"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures"…Henry Ward Beecher

Thursday 13: On Commuting

I’ve been thinking a lot about my commute lately. Here are some facts:

1. I drive about 40 miles each way. That’s 80 miles/day; 400 miles/week; 1600 miles/month; and in theory, 20,800/year. I say in theory because I’m not accounting for days off and such.

2. My trip almost inevitably takes 39 – 40 minutes. You’d think it would vary greatly due to traffic, stop lights, and speed variations, but it all seems to even out.

3. I pass 3 Home Depots in the first 20 miles alone.

4. My car, which I bought new in 2002, now has 150,000 + miles on it (and still going strong). That’s almost 30,000 miles a year.

5. My pet peeve is when the whole metro calls off school for snow and my district still has school. Took me an hour and a half last Thursday to get to work.

6. The longest trip home I’ve had due to weather was 2 1/2 – 3 hours.

7. My church is about 20 minutes away from home. So after driving 40 minutes home, on nights when there are activities at the church building, it is really difficult to want to get back in the car and drive more.

8. I’ve never been pulled over or had a wreck doing all this commuting.

9. There have been a couple of occasions when I’ve been halfway to work and had to turn around and come home due to illness. That made me appreciate that at least I’m not driving into the city every morning. What should have taken 20 minutes took about 35.

10. If you calculate gas at about $3.00/gallon, I spend about $160/month on gas for work. (Of course gas is a little higher than that now).

11. I did carpool with a couple of different co-workers for awhile, but that wasn’t really for me (though it was nice to get a nap in on the way home).

12. I can remember before I became a long distance commuter that I couldn’t believe people would drive 45 minutes to an hour to work. When I started doing it, I found it surprisingly relaxing. Gave me time to think, listen to the radio, speed read (books on CD while I speed down the highway). However, lately I have not been enjoying the drive, and it’s become more of a nuisance.

13. I’ve been thinking more and more about moving closer to work. Since I don’t want to live all the way down in Paola, I would still be about 15 – 20 minutes away from work. Surprisingly, that would only save me about $80/month in gas. But more importantly than the expense, it’s the time that has been bugging me of late. It would save me about 3 1/2 hours a week. A few more long drives in bad weather and I may be convinced. For now it’s a daunting thought to think about selling the house and moving again.

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One Response to “Thursday 13: On Commuting”

Hey, Tawnya! Thanks for the comments. I hadn’t updated on the whole situation with Becky and Carrie Brannam, but they didn’t end up getting the little girl. She had a lot of problems that were not disclosed and would have to have constant care her entire life. It was a really tough decision for Becky, but she felt that God was saying “no” to this child once she interacted with her for 2 days. She’s taking a little break right now from the adoption process because she was so emotionally invested. She’s doing really well, though. 🙂 Just thought I’d update you on that. Have a great day!